Examples Of Blindness In The Great Gatsby

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Thomas Gray once said in one of his poems that, “Ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise”. It is explaining how the author was happy about not knowing real life consequences that were coming his way. This is very similar to the characters and to the different areas that are mentioned in the novel The Great Gatsby, by F.Scott Fitzgerald. There are multiple characters and locations that are blind to reality and what is going on around them. Such as Gatsby, George Wilson, and a location would be the Valley of Ashes. Gatsby is especially blind because all he is focused on is making Daisy happy and on his wealth. George Wilson is blinded by his hatred for Gatsby and by Myrtle's affair with Tom Buchanan. The Valley of Ashes also symbolizes blindness …show more content…
On page 110, Gatsby says, “Can’t repeat the past?” he cried incredulously. “Why of course you can!” He is so in love with her image and admires her superficiality. Gatsby does not realize that Daisy won’t leave Tom she is not capable to fall in love again. Another example would be his parties. Gatsby throws these parties and hundreds of people go and he doesn't know any of them and some of his guests have never even seen him before. Nick says, “As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find my host, but the two or three people of whom I asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an amazed way, and denied so vehemently any knowledge of his movements…” (42). We learn that he has these parties so Daisy can come and try to see what she is missing out and for her to fall in love with …show more content…
T.J.Eckelberg. On page 23 it says, “The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic-their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose.” These eyes symbolize that god is looking down at everyone and watching their every little move. It reveals everyones flaws and that someone is always watching them. Later in the book Daisy hits Myrtle in front of her apartment which is located in the valley of ashes and this also symbolizes blindness because Myrtle thought it was Tom coming to pick her up. “He believed that Mrs. Wilson had been running away from, her husband , rather than trying to stop any particular car” (159). She is blinded by the fact that Tom was driving Gatsby’s car earlier and she still thought he was in it coming back for her. She had no clue that Daisy was driving and she ran out thinking it was Tom and Daisy hit her with no remorse.
In conclusion, the theme of blindness was very definite throughout the novel. It affected the characters in a negative way. It affected George in a negative way because he wanted to get revenge on Gatsby who supposedly killed Myrtle, it affected Gatsby in a negative way because he wanted to win Daisy over but it couldn’t happen, and the location of the Valley of Ashes had a gloomy effect as well. They all had no clue what type of consequences were
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